The holidays mean big family meals, old traditions, and Grandma’s secret cookie recipe, and let’s be honest, it’s hard to pass up the feast to stay “healthy.” Good thing you don’t have to choose. Winter’s the perfect excuse to slow down, gather around the table, and enjoy the moment with the people you love.
Sure, healthy habits can slip during the holidays, and a little indulgence can turn into a lot. But celebrating and taking care of yourself don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Here are 10 of our favorite tips for eating well without missing out on the fun. We’ve also got ideas to get the kids involved and make the most of your leftovers. Let’s dig in!
1. Start Slowly With Holiday Treats
As the holidays begin, treats seem to come at you from every direction, and it can be tempting to try everything right away. Instead, slow down. If you dive into every holiday treat all at once, both your body and your mind may feel the effects: your digestive system may not be used to suddenly eating lots of rich, creamy, heavy foods, and you may also end up feeling guilty afterward.
Instead, ease into the holiday treats gradually: have a cookie one day and a slice of cake the next. If you had a filling meal of spaghetti and meatballs the night before, give yourself a full day before having another heavy meal. If you don’t go all in at the beginning, it’s easier to maintain balance for the rest of the week.
2. Don’t Skip Meals
It can be tempting to skip a meal to “save room” for a big holiday dinner. It seems logical, right? That way, you can eat more of it later. In reality, the opposite may happen. When you skip a meal, your blood sugar can fluctuate. By the time you sit down to eat, you may be much hungrier than you need to be, making overeating and an upset stomach more likely. Over time, regularly skipping meals may also disrupt your metabolism and increase your risk of weight gain.
Instead, eat regularly to keep yourself energized throughout the day. Your body will thank you.
3. Don’t Shop When You’re Hungry
No matter how carefully you’ve prepared your shopping list, it can be hard to resist the snacks calling your name from the shelves. If you go to the store on an empty stomach, you may only make things harder: hunger can easily convince you that you need much more than you actually do.
If possible, have a small snack before you head to the store, and stick to your shopping list. You’ll be less likely to fill your cart with impulse purchases that you didn’t plan to buy.
4. Skip the All-or-Nothing Mindset
Aim for mindful eating, but don’t expect yourself to resist every cookie, which only sets you up for disappointment. Allow yourself a little extra indulgence and enjoy your favorite holiday treats; don’t eat the entire tray at once. The goal isn’t perfect self-restraint; it’s balance.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to pay attention to portion sizes. You don’t have to give anything up. Choose a smaller plate or cut yourself a smaller slice, so you can enjoy a little of everything without going overboard.
5. Fill Your Plate With Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables
With so many delicious dishes to choose from, it’s easy to skip the healthy ones. Eating seasonal fruits and vegetables is not only a great way to balance things out, but it can also add to the holiday spirit. After all, these foods aren’t always available year-round, so they can feel like a special treat when they make it onto the table while you’re surrounded by family and friends.
Don’t make that face yet: winter also offers delicious, nutritious ingredients. Stock up on seasonal fruits and vegetables, then get creative with them:
- For lunch or dinner, make a salad.
- For breakfast, add berries, make a smoothie, or even prepare a vegetable omelet.
Natural winter ingredients offer almost endless uses; be open to them, and you might even create a new family tradition.
6. Slow Down and Listen to Your Body
The table is overflowing, and you’d love to have a little of everything. The first rule of healthy holiday eating is to listen to your body first and treat your taste buds second. Choose mindfully and truly enjoy every bite so that you can finish your meal feeling satisfied.
If the selection feels overwhelming, and it probably will, don’t try to taste everything at once. If you take a little of everything, two things can happen: you may miss out on truly enjoying your favorite foods, and your stomach may soon let you know you’ve had enough.
There’s also a simple trick you may have heard of: it takes time for your stomach to signal your brain that you’re full. So before going back for seconds, pause for a few minutes. Even better, use that time to drink a glass of water: it helps you stay hydrated and may help you feel full.
7. Watch the Liquid Calories
The holidays are about celebrating, eating, and, yes, drinking, too. Hot chocolate, holiday punch, and a glass of wine there are plenty of delicious options to choose from. Still, it’s easy to forget that these drinks can also be packed with calories. A cup of hot chocolate, for example, can add several hundred extra calories!
People often leave drinks out of the equation because we don’t think of them as “solid” food, but they’re still part of your overall diet. You don’t have to give up alcohol completely, either; pay attention to how much you drink, since excessive alcohol consumption can negatively affect both physical and mental health.
The solution is simple: get most of your daily fluids from plain or naturally flavored water, and have a glass of water between alcoholic or calorie-heavy drinks. Water can help you feel fuller, so drinking a large glass of water before or during a meal may also help you avoid overeating.
8. Stay Active During the Holidays
The holidays can be both festive and stressful. When your social calendar is packed, it’s easy to completely forget about exercise. But even a little movement can help: you don’t have to rush to the gym to do something good for yourself. Take a quick walk after your holiday meal or choose the stairs instead of the elevator. Those small choices can still help you move a little more during the holiday rush.
9. Get Enough Sleep
How does a good night’s sleep relate to healthy holiday eating? More than you might think. When you don’t get enough sleep, it can affect your blood sugar, making you more likely to crave fatty, sugary foods and potentially contributing to episodes of overeating.
Sleep is essential for countless other reasons, too – which is why it’s worth aiming for 7–8 hours a night even when your schedule is packed.
10. Don’t Wait Until New Year’s to Get Healthy
Sound familiar? “Everything will be different in January.” Many of us use this mindset: we give ourselves free rein until December 31, then plan to switch to vegetables and workouts all at once on January 1. The problem is that this mindset can do more harm than good. You may stick with it for a few days, but it takes little to slip back into your old habits.
Change takes time, so it makes sense to start building the routine you want to continue in January now, during the holidays. Instead of telling yourself, “I’ll be healthy starting in January,” try this: “Since I want to be healthy starting in January, I need to start preparing for it now.” It’s a small shift, but it can make a real difference in the way you think about your habits.
How Can You Get Kids Involved in Healthy Holiday Eating?
Getting younger kids to eat healthy during the holidays can be challenging. Still, a little creativity can make it much easier. Teaching them to make healthy choices early can give them a strong foundation that lasts a lifetime.
Here are a few simple ideas to try:
- Let them help cook. Depending on their age, kids can wash vegetables, stir ingredients, mix a salad, or help measure ingredients for a holiday recipe.
- Play “eat the rainbow.” Challenge them to add different colors to their plate using seasonal foods: red cranberries or pomegranate seeds, orange carrots or sweet potatoes, green broccoli or green beans, yellow corn, and purple cabbage. It turns choosing fruits and vegetables into a little game rather than a lecture.
- Let them choose the toppings. Set out options such as chopped vegetables, shredded cheese, herbs, or seeds.
- Give them a job on the baking sheet. Older kids can help arrange chopped carrots, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, or other vegetables on a sheet pan before roasting. Just make sure an adult handles the oven and hot pans.
- Make a fruit and veggie bingo card. Add pictures of different foods and let kids mark them off whenever they try something new. As a reward, let the winner choose a family activity or help pick the next day’s meal.
- Make food fun with shapes. Use cookie cutters to turn fruits, vegetables, or sandwiches into fun shapes. It’s a small trick, but kids tend to love it.
Cooking together brings the family closer, creates shared experiences, and can even lead to new traditions. Make holiday meals a true family activity, from planning and cooking to sitting down for dinner and cleaning up afterward. In a warm, supportive environment, healthy choices can become easier for everyone.
What Should You Do With Holiday Leftovers?
Big holiday feasts are often plentiful, which can lead to overeating and food waste. But you can turn those leftovers into delicious, healthy meals.
Turkey, for example, can be used in many different ways:
- Freeze it in portions for salads and soups.
- Toss it into a stir-fry with vegetables and a little soy sauce, and if you have leftover sweet potatoes, dice them up and add them, too.
- Make pulled turkey that you can use in all kinds of meals: sandwiches, tortillas, tacos, or even sprinkled over salads.
Don’t throw away the cranberry sauce, either:
- It’s delicious on top of yogurt or oatmeal.
- Mix it with low-fat cream cheese for a flavorful spread on whole-grain toast.
Here’s to a Balanced Holiday
Eating healthy during the holidays doesn’t mean giving up the foods you love. It’s about finding a little balance – enjoying the cookies, making room for vegetables, drinking plenty of water, getting some movement in, and listening to what your body needs.
You don’t have to wait until January to start making healthier choices, either. Small changes can fit right into the holidays, without taking away from what makes this season special.
So enjoy the meal, spend time with the people you love, and don’t stress about getting everything perfect. After all, the holidays are meant to be enjoyed.
